Fantastic, Ben. Seems so basic it should never be overlooked, but I've certainly been guilty of being out of sync when practicing in an effort to play fast. Much needed lesson to keep us focused on a very important part of playing!! Thx! Jim

Hi Guys, welcome to my lesson dedicated to hand synchronisation. It is crucial that we have good co ordination between our fretting hand and our picking hand otherwise we will run the risk of always sounding sloppy and out of control.

What is bad hand synchronisation? Well, let's pretend that your finger frets a note but you pick it a little bit late, so the note effectively sounds twice but really close together. It can ruin any phrase so let's grab our tools and tighten up those screws!

This lesson uses alternate picking throughout and I really want you to concentrate on your finger landing on the notes at the same time you pick the strings. There's no magic formula for this apart from just doing it, again and again. Experience is the only real thing that will improve your hand synchronisation but the amount of time and experience will vary according to how much you focus on actually trying to improve this aspect.

Good hand synchronisation will be needed whatever type of pattern or phrase we play so I've added together some different picking patterns to keep you focused and so you don't just get used to one type of movement.

As always, give yourself time to get it right. Take it slow and really, really listen to what you're doing. Do some of the notes sound blurred because your finger and pick aren't working at the same time ? Time to iron out the creases - let's go !